Friday, October 30, 2009

After six weeks of high stress games that pushed every Notre Dame fan to the brink in so many ways it appears we finally will have a nice, relaxing game to enjoy. One part of me says I’ll believe it when I see it. The other part looks at the statistics and says if this isn’t a nice relaxing game we have far more issues than anyone ever imagined/feared.

That’s pretty hapless. Now Washington State’s quarterback Jeff Tuel just threw for 354 yards against Cal last week so there are signs of life at least in the passing game…but we really, REALLY shouldn’t have a problem with stopping them. With Tenuta’s blitzing defense this should be the equivalent of a high school varsity basketball team full-court pressing the freshman team for the entire game. There is a colossal talent gap in play here. Tenuta’s aggressiveness should bully the Cougars into a lot of mistakes. I want turnover galore.

Now I know the offensive stats are brutal, but just look at the other side of the ball.

Look at those four lines. Look at the numbers and the attached rankings. It has to be one of the worst lineups of defensive stats in history. Every single skill player on our offense should be licking their chops.

Here are the five goals for today:

1. Washington State has been outscored 112-3 in the first quarter. We need to make that last stat look much worse after the game. I’d like at least 17-21 points in the first quarter2. Finish in the red zone. It’s time to develop that killer instinct when we’re marching toward the goal line. We’ve moved at will between the 20’s almost every game but too often we stall—many times due to penalties.3. Pad the Jimmy’s Heisman campaign. 300+ yards and 3-4TD’s midway through the third quarter will do.4. Make Jeff Tuel look like a freshman quarterback from the first snap until the last one. I’m sick of making freshman quarterbacks look like All-Americans.5. A lot of reps for the subs starting in the second half. Specifically, I want to see Dayne Crist air it out a bit, Matt Romine block, and then see how three young guys perform in the secondary—Zeke Motta, Jamoris Slaughter, and Danny McCarthy.

Say the mantra with me: Nice…Relaxing…Victory...Nice…Relaxing…Victory…Nice…